That's What You Get
by WritingLevel-Meh
Summary: Set in the time when the Cordyceps broke out, there were more people affected than most would care to elaborate on. But in this time, it is hard to differentiate between friends and enemies, but safety in numbers can be just as problematic, right? An unlikely band of heroes and villains come together to face the world for survival. Can they put the past aside?
1. Mass Confusion

**Author's Note:**

This chapter is a bit of a prologue, but it'll give you a taste for what's going on! Please Read and Review!

* * *

-MON 9th SEPT/ 15:09-

"Come on, quickly, this way!"

They ran, the sound of their footsteps on the wet tarmac especially loud among the sluggish and jerky movements of those following them.

Where did these guys come from?

Rafe had no idea.

What was going on?

Not a question he could answer.

One minute he was with his team, next he was trapped in an office with Knot and Orca telling him to stay away from the door- that something crazy was going on and that Nadine was stuck elsewhere. Getting out was a blur, they spent the best part of an hour hearing ominous groans and screeches from behind the door. But the filing cabinets wouldn't be enough to hold, so they had to find a way out.

* * *

-MON 9th SEPT/ 13:22-

"Knot, you go on ahead and find a way down, I'll keep an eye out" Orca instructed, grunting as he struggled to keep the cabinet in place.

"What if they're down there?" Knot seemed reluctant to go, looking across at him.

"Just _what_ is going on here?" Rafe was still trying to come to terms with whatever was lingering behind the door and had the mercenaries scared witless.

"It's some kind of crazy shit, sir, everyone's gone crazy" Orca answered.

"What is this bullshit?" The younger demanded to know, looking from one man to the other.

Orca didn't seem like he could explain any further, but the question was forgotten as a particularly hard tremor floored him.

"They're breaking in! Go!"

Knot scrambled towards the window, pushing it as far open as it would go, but there was no way it would go any further, but he didn't have to worry for too long because Orca's boot soon kicked the glass out.

"Well, get on with it" Rafe commanded, taking his gun up and checking the magazine.

Orca joined him in facing the door and taking up arms in preparation for when the final line of defence would fall.

Knot slid one leg out, testing the firmness of the ledge before slipping his other leg out and trying to find purchase against the brick but with his weight and the slickness of the rain, he fell right off. "Woah, woah!"

BANG.

"Knot!" Rafe called, waiting for an update and perhaps getting anxious about the second filing cabinet crashing to the ground. He didn't know what the hell was behind that door, and he wasn't exactly looking forward to finding out either.

"I'm alright! Got some cushioning down here!" Knot called back once he'd found his way out of the garbage bags and hopped down from the bin where he had landed. A quick survey of the alleyway told him it was clear. "All clear, come on down!"

Rafe looked across at Orca.

"You go on ahead, sir, I'll follow you down" He encouraged.

Without another word, Rafe slung himself over the window frame and slid down, landing in the bags and grumbling at the indignity of the whole situation.

"Orca!" Knot called, hearing the increase in volume of the groaning and growling.

The doors had obviously come free, but now they watched as the mercenary came flying out of the window, dropping down into the bags with such force that he rolled off the ledge of the bin and hit the ground hard.

"Are you alright, china?" His colleague asked with concern, watching him scramble to get to his feet with a grunt of pain.

"No time now, get your asses moving!" Rafe warned, watching with growing terror as the crazed Shoreline mercenaries came screeching towards the window and carelessly dropping out as though it was nothing.

"Jesus!" Knot scrambled to get away just in time as one of the men dropped right to the tarmac, a sickening crunch of bones resounding in the narrow passage as blood exploded from a broken nose and front teeth.

"Stop this madness, right now!" Adler demanded, dodging as another came charging at him. The third, however, latched on, his finger nails digging into the petite man's arms, wild eyes rolling around and that was when the fear really settled into his stomach.

"I got you!" A loud gunshot to the head sent blood spraying across his face and shirt, but at least the writhing creature could now be dislodged and he kicked it away before dashing after Orca who made for the mouth of the alley to escape before anymore could rush in.

They were fast but luckily not clever and they managed to lose them in the backstreets.

* * *

-MON 9th SEPT/ 14:09-

"Hey, how you holding up?" Orca asked, panting heavily as he checked his gun.

Damn, empty.

The Para-9 was thrown aside and a Jackal was retrieved from behind his belt. He had some ammunition left, that was good enough for now.

"You're asking _me_ how I'm holding up? How do you think?" Rafe snapped, using his sleeve to wipe blood off his face.

Orca gave him a mildly annoyed look, but as usual didn't say anything about it. "Knot?"

The younger mercenary coughed, indicating his presence with a wave of his hand- the one that wasn't holding his side from all the running. "So… where to now? We haul up somewhere?" He asked, hoping that 'yes' was the answer. "Sir...?"

When there was no answer for two minutes, Knot moved from his current resting place to investigate what had got Rafe's attention.

"A virus?" Adler gave a sceptical scoff as he picked up what looked like a medical pamphlet from the floor. "You've got to be joking, so… so what these things are… are just sick people?" He couldn't believe this nonsense.

"Look more like zombies, sir" Knot's joke was not appreciated by either of his companions, so he just fell silent as he moved to stand beside Orca.

"I'd say we find ourselves a nice camping spot, get some supplies on the way" The other man suggested, but said it in such a way that suggested he was leaving it up to his boss to decide. Right now, Rafe Adler still had his standing between them.

"We should get one of the 4x4s or a Jeep. Hardy enough to keep us on the road for a while." Rafe pointed out, already turning to head through the main street so they could find their way back to the car park of the office building they had left nearly an hour ago.

"Good idea"

The main street was a wreck, a bus having crashed and blocked off the road, some cars having had an unfortunate fate driving into it, though perhaps more unfortunate were the people who had died inside them and were now bait for the hungry infected.

Rafe grimaced at the sight of the carnage, the scent of gasoline and death making him feel queasy, but he remained composed as he turned to go in the opposite direction.

"Well, now we know where not to go" He heard Knot remark to his colleague.

The street was fortunately not crowded, the few infected who paid them attention being knocked out with fists to save on ammo, but otherwise the rest seemed preoccupied with eating what was already available- a sickening thought if someone dwelled on it.

They reached the car park in twenty minutes, the stench of gasoline and something burning now strong, and Adler cursed as he found that most of the cars were gone already, but worst of all was that one of the armoury trucks had crashed into the side of the building- probably the cause of the entire structure shaking earlier- and now there were more of those things swarming towards it.

"Do you think we could get some of those guns, sir?" Orca asked, peeling back the mesh wire fence from a car that had been lodged half through it so he could climb under and get into the parking area.

"Could be worth a try," Rafe replied, crouching low as he slid across the hood of the crashed Toyota. "I'll see if any of the cars are in useable condition, you and Knot go salvage what you can" He instructed, turning back to look at them both.

Knot looked as anxious as he normally did when he was told to do something particularly risky, but Orca tapped his shoulder and they turned to head back towards the building.

It wasn't like he was going to miss them, and most importantly, if they couldn't even make it back in one piece, there was no way in hell he was waiting up for them. He would find one of his safe houses and lay low until the madness passed.

* * *

-MON 9th SEPT/ 14:41-

Rafe jerked when he heard footsteps moving behind him, shuffling to hide behind a pillar and take a deep breath in. It was really dark in the underground car park, but if he wanted to get a vehicle out, there was no way he would be able to do it through the front so he had to find the back exit that looked out onto another street.

The sound of the rain was somewhat calming, but when he thought back to the deranged look he had seen in that man's eyes back in the alleyway and what he had read about these things in the pamphlet, his skin crawled and reminded him that it was one thing killing for profit, but another to fight for survival.

Looking around, he slipped down to try the door of the nearest car but it didn't budge. Sighing, he shifted himself out of cover to inspect the model. A Hyundai. Not the ideal choice.

A bit of further inspection and he found a Jeep. It looked a bit run down, but it was the sturdiest option.

A strange sound caught his attention.

Breathing? No, that wasn't it. It sounded more like… clicking.

Click. Click-click. Click-click.

Rafe retrieved his gun, trying to steady his hand as he aimed for the creature with the strange growth covering the entirety of its head as though its brain had somehow blossomed on the exterior.

Bang!

"What the hell…?"

The Clicker veered on him with a loud screech, flailing its arms about as it advanced.

Bang! Bang!

Several more shots and it fell to the ground squirming in its own blood, but Adler couldn't take a break there as the sound of gunfire had brought every one of those lurking things running towards him.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang- click, click, click.

"Ah shit" Rafe cursed, throwing the now empty weapon at the nearest Runner's face to stun it before he backed away, his back hitting the Jeep. What options did he have?

"Run!" He didn't recognise the voice nor the British accent, but there was some gunfire and the nearest Runner collapsed with a big hole where its ear should have been.

"Get out of there, idiot!" Again.

Rafe made a break towards the voice, seeing a man standing at the back of a pick-up truck with what looked like a Hunting Rifle. He seemed to have a steady hand, but it wasn't him who had called out to him. It was the driver.

The short man quickly hopped in the back, wincing as he hit the side when the vehicle lurched forward without warning, starting to drive off. His companion in the back also seemed to have lost his footing, almost falling right out if he hadn't managed to regain his balance and drop to his knees.

* * *

-MON 9th SEPT/ 15:15-

Rafe crashed through the door after his two companions, watching as the taller one slammed the door shut and together they pushed a shelf to block it.

"Are we all good?" The British man asked, looking between them.

"We're good. For now." The other had a Spanish sounding accent, but his features suggested South American.

"Alright, let's take a look around… see what we can find" The first said, but Rafe had to interrupt.

"Hey, excuse me, this is great and all, but… I don't take orders from you" He cleared his throat, wearing his best game face as the two turned to look at him then exchanged silent looks. "Look, I don't even know who you two are" He tried to word things better. He didn't know what these two were after.

"I'm Talbot." Introduced the more refined of the two, looking somewhat dishevelled but still smart in his dress shirt which had the sleeves rolled up, a vest and slacks. He was too agile to simply be a rich man, maybe just worked for an important organisation.

Rafe looked towards the other man expectantly.

He was about 6'2" in height, and seemed generally quieter in a reserved manner. His jeans and black shirt were on the casual side, but definitely not practical in the rain, even if he was wearing a sleeveless jacket.

"Navarro" Came the short introduction.

"Good, good. I'm Rafe Adler, you've probably heard of me" He gave a business-like smile before turning around to face the pillaged bookstore.

Who knew if they could get out of here alive.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Rafe, Talbot and Navarro? Probably not the trio you were expecting, right?

Thanks for reading, if you're interested in finding out what happens next, please review/favourite/follow!


	2. Tight Squeeze

**Author's Note:**

I'm trying to keep the chapters consistent in length, but I'm not so sure about the pace, be sure to let me know what you think once you read this chapter!

Thanks for any Follows/Reviews/Favourites/etc.

* * *

-MON 9th SEPT/ 15:20-

"Are we seriously doing this?" Rafe asked sceptically, his eyes darting around the nearly empty store.

It was nearing sunset and the streets were quieter than before, but it didn't help the fact that they could run into a pack of Infected at any moment. They needed supplies and some quick fix medicine, but their options were becoming more and more limited.

"We need some stuff before we head back" Navarro reminded him, trying to find his way past the series of fallen shelves towards the back of the store.

"What if we run into something out here? What then?" Rafe questioned, moving to stand in the corner so he could watch all the shadows moving around the room.

"We're already stuck, we might as well make the most of it" Talbot interrupted, but Rafe just ignored him.

"Hey, over here, I think I found a way through" The dark haired man told them, shouldering his rifle before ducking down to crawl through the gap under the shelves.

"Alright, Rafe, you go first, I'll watch the back" Talbot insisted, watching the way the ghastly fluorescent bulbs flickered on the ceiling.

"Sure, whatever" He took a deep breath in, slowly lowering himself down, cautious of the low overhead space as he crawled through after Navarro.

"You alright?" Navarro asked as he reached the other side and Rafe just gave a short nod, but Navarro didn't stick around to hear him say anything anyway and so he went on.

Talbot came up behind him, brushing dust off his pants and shouldering past him. "Come on, let's not fall behind" He encouraged, and Rafe glared at his back.

He didn't even know why he was with these two but considering the fact he had zero ammunition and no car, he would have to bide his time and see what this camp of theirs was like. He had heard of some areas being quarantined on the news- in fact, there had been reports of the mysterious virus but only as a strange increase in violent behaviour and then some kind of plague spreading which required safe cities to become cut off for containment.

Nothing they said on TV or in the papers had ever prepared him for what it was really like.

"Navarro?" Talbot called as he reached the staircase leading up.

"Shh-" The man indicated for them to be silent, retrieving a multi-purpose switchblade from his pocket and pressing up against the wall.

Talbot crouched and gestured for Rafe to do the same as he slinked across to the adjacent wall, listening out for whatever it was that had alerted Navarro.

Rafe watched with a growing feeling of uneasiness in his stomach as it came through the door.

Click. Click-click. Click-click. Click.

The Clicker continued to make the horrid noise as it slowly descended the stairs towards them.

One movement and it would catch them and possibly even bring any others roaming around the area here.

Rafe's stomach churned, his fingers curling. How could they stay so calm? Why didn't Navarro take it out yet? His eyes searched the small space for anything that would be useful, landing on the revolver tucked behind Talbot's belt. It would have to do.

Talbot instantly tensed when he felt the gun snatched out, whirling around to grasp Rafe's wrist before he could fire, trying to wrestle it free as quietly as possible but by this point he could feel the Clicker breathing down his neck.

The Clicker had reached the bottom of the stairs and seemed to be heading towards them. It was moving like it knew that something living, breathing and scared was in its territory.

Navarro shifted closer carefully, coming up right in front of it, blade glinting dangerously in his hand.

Rafe felt light headed with anxiety.

Oh God. Oh God.

Click. Click-Click.

Rafe couldn't stay put, his nerves were frayed and his heart was beating so fast, he thought it might stop at any minute. He moved, preparing to run.

Talbot tensed beside him in shock as the creature suddenly veered on Rafe and screeched.

Rafe cursed loudly, stumbling back and landing flat on his ass.

"Merde!" Navarro struck, sinking his knife into its vulnerable neck and locking his arms around its midsection as it tried to chew Rafe's face off.

"Navarro!" Talbot yelled, trying to help Rafe slip out from under it.

"Move, God damn it, move!" Navarro snapped at them, managing to swing the Clicker around and slam his shoulder into its back to give it a hard shove away. A quick grab on the back of its shirt and he rammed its head into the wall, bits of brain matter and blood bursting all over his clothes.

"Navarro, behind you!" The British man warned as he pulled Rafe up and began making his way towards the shelves they had just passed, stopping short to take a few down with his gun.

Navarro whirled around to see a herd of Infected coming at him and he left his switchblade in favour of saving himself, scrabbling quickly after Rafe. Once he was through, Talbot followed but the thundering of footsteps shook the old building, sending the shelves in a heap right over him.

"Talbot!"

* * *

-MON 9th SEPT/ 17:34-

"Okay, up here. This should do the trick nicely." Charlie sighed as he finally reached the top of the ladder, clambering up onto the roof of the hotel.

"Oh yes, nothing more romantic than this" Chloe remarked sarcastically as she took his hand to get up faster. Once there, she brushed herself off then kicked the hatch closed after them.

"Aw, bloody hell…"

The remark got her attention and she walked over to look out across the cityscape. "Holy hell"

The city was a wreck. Fires blazing sky high and turning the sunset sky into a murky grey, the highways were crowded with cars, some still driving, trying to get through the mess of Infected running rampant and tearing into anyone still living. There were helicopters in the distance, but somehow there was a silent knowledge that they weren't out looking to help stranded civilians.

"Okay, so… what now? You got a plan?" Charlie asked, being bought back to reality by the sound of a woman screaming and gunfire not too far away.

Chloe moved to the other side to inspect for a way down. "There's the fire escape" She pointed out.

"Uh-huh. But then what?" He prompted, following her gaze to see a potential route out of the city.

"We might need to haul up somewhere until the majority of it clears… I can't see us getting across that bridge any time soon" She admitted.

The bald man nodded in silence, seeing her point, though he doubted things would settled down while those hellish creatures were running around the streets.

"Come on, I think that pub will be a good place to camp. Plenty of things to use in there, might even find a working vehicle nearby" She spoke as she hopped down the ladder leading towards the fire escape so they could reach ground level.

"Alright, fair point" He shrugged, following her down.

He only hoped that the rest of the group was making better progress.

* * *

-MON 9th SEPT/ 18:00-

"Come on, Nathan, pick up…" Sam grumbled, shouldering his shotgun as he pushed the kitchen door the slightest bit open. There was a sound coming from the bar's lounge. Something like someone walking on broken shards of glass.

' _The person you are trying to contact is not available at this moment. Please leave a message after the tone.'_ The operator's voice told him.

"Damnit, Nathan!" He was hoping against hope that it was just the battery being dead. "Hey, Nathan, if you get this message, make sure to call me back as soon as possible… ASAP. Alright, little brother?" He recorded before finally shutting off his phone and peering out through the gap.

No sign of anything moving from this angle and the sound had also stopped.

All he wanted was a drink that afternoon and the next thing he knew, he was breaking glass bottles over the head of the wonderful woman who he had been talking with because she had suddenly decided to attempt eating him.

Not in the pleasant way either.

The tall man had at least managed to get a double barrel shotgun from behind the bar counter and hide in the kitchen where there were only two cooks and no panicked crowd to deal with. Everyone else had either turned or ran for their lives and now several hours later, after picking off the Infected posing a threat, he decided it was time to relocate.

One would have thought that after months of running around with Nathan Drake and hearing about cursed treasure, he wouldn't have scoffed at the TV presenter and protests about the inability of the WHO to treat some unknown plague that had been dubbed the CBI, but here he was.

"Didn't think anyone was still around here in all this"

Sam tensed as he heard the unfamiliar voice in the seemingly empty lounge, light eyes looking across to where a man was currently enjoying a beer and lighting himself a cigarette. "Yeah? Well, me neither" He admitted as he moved closer slowly, cautious in case this stranger had already been bitten.

"Cheers to us then, hm?" The man with the British accent leaned back across the counter to retrieve another beer bottle, using an army knife to pop its cap before holding it out to him. "Name's Flynn" He introduced with a quirky smile.

"Uh, alright, Flynn," Sam stepped over to take the offered drink. "I'm Sam." He held it up, the glass bottles clinking together before the two men took big and much needed gulps. "So, really crazy shit out there, huh?"

"I think crazy is putting it nicely, mate" Harry pointed out, leaning his arms back on the bar behind him as he surveyed the room idly.

Several Infected Runners lay dead, empty shotgun shells and glass littering the floor.

"Worst out there, huh?" Sam prompted, checking his watch. The sun would have set by now and he would really rather wait till morning to navigate the streets, but that would mean he would have to work on sealing off the place for the night.

"You have no idea… nice place to stay in, this. All the booze you could possibly want too." Flynn seemed to have caught on to his idea, although perhaps not for the right reason.

"Yeah, maybe for a couple nights. Should probably do something about the doors and windows though- hey, where you going?" He cut himself off to ask as the other left his seat to head off into a side room.

"Doing something about the doors and windows" Came the answer which strangely reminded him of Nathan's remarks.

"Alright, smartass, wait up. Some of those things could still be around here." Sam huffed, checking how many shells he still had left. Four still in the box and two in the barrel. Ammunition wouldn't be difficult to come by if they were in the right place, but he somehow doubted that said right places hadn't already been visited by everyone who had made it through the initial craze.

"Relax, all you have to do is-" Flynn paused to finish the last of his beer before throwing the bottle against the screen of the arcade game against the wall.

The screen and bottle both shattered loudly, a tense silence following before a loud bang was heard from somewhere in the bar.

Sam and Harry exchanged glances before following the brief noise towards the door marked as the women's toilet.

"Never thought I'd be walking into one of these to check for crazy chicks" Harry remarked casually, moving quietly to one side of the door and signalling for Sam to ready his weapon.

When the older Drake gave a nod to indicate that he was ready, Flynn pushed the door open quickly to ensure that they could see all the way around the room without any blind spots.

The only thing more concerning than the dead body and the smashed ceramic on the floor which had obviously caused the death was that the place looked empty.

Sam didn't like this, letting out a shaky breath as he carefully stepped around the growing puddle of blood that was seeping into the gaps between the tiles, pushing open one of the stalls.

Nothing.

Harry had paused to inspect the dead body, pulling a face upon discovering that it was a Runner. "Sam-"

"Shh!" Sam shushed him, checking the second stall.

"Sam" Harry whispered more urgently, prompting him to pause and glare at him, but the crouched thief indicated the last stall.

That was when it occurred to him. Being low to the ground, he could probably see someone's feet- but no. When Sam lowered himself too, he couldn't see anything from the gap under the stall. What was Flynn indicating then? Did the Infected hide too?

The thought was very unsettling and he very slowly shuffled into the second-to-last stall, flinching when the wooden lid creaked under his weight as he stepped onto it. He held his breath and waited a full minute, the blood pumping so quickly that all he could hear was his heart throbbing loudly in his ears.

Okay. Here goes nothing.

Sam held his breath as he leaned across- more creaks of protest from the wood- peering over the top of the stall to look into the last one.

It must have been his shadow which alerted the occupant, but the next thing he knew there was a loud shriek which shocked and nearly knocked him off balance.

"Sam!" Harry sounded desperate again, and a quick look back over his shoulder told him why.

While the bottle shattering earlier had been loud, it wasn't quite the same as a living human yelling, and this was apparently loud enough to attract attention from everything still breathing in the vicinity.

Quickly, Harry bolted the bathroom door closed, jamming a mop across the handle to make it more difficult to open, but other than that, there was nothing else in the small space that would help them out.

"Let's hide, come on" Sam slapped his back as he slid into the stall that he had just left, heaving himself over to the next one.

Harry followed him while saying something about this whole thing being ridiculous.

Indeed, it was.

"Shh, shh, shh" Sam tried to calm the girl down, though admittedly he could tell that she was utterly terrified just from the fact that there were two grown men squeezed into a bathroom cubicle with her- that was other than the fact that there were Infected pounding on the door.

Harry looked a little bit freaked out as he looked between Sam and the unknown woman, just about keeping his balance on the ledge of the toilet lid. If he or Sam slipped, that would be a serious problem, but at least the young woman seemed to have calmed down upon realising that they weren't human eating creatures that had developed the motor functions to climb over stalls to get her.

Marisa Chase did not plan to be stuck here with Harry Flynn and Samuel Drake; all she had wanted was to meet Nathan and Sully again to catch up and yet here she was, stuck in a bar that she had only been intending to get water from.

Maybe an alcoholic drink would have at least helped her nerves and prepared her for what was to come.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

If you've never played Uncharted: Golden Abyss, don't worry so much about knowing Marisa, but a quick Google search will help if you're curious. More importantly, it appears like the groups are slowly forming, right?

Let me know who you would like to see through a quick Review!

Thanks for Follows/Reviews/Favourites/etc.

WritingLevel-Meh


	3. Redeeming or Questionable

**Author's Note:**

I wasn't expecting to get another chapter out so soon, but alas, here it is!

Let me know what you think through a quick review!

* * *

-MON 9th SEPT/ 23:58-

Elena grunted as she limped through the narrow alleyway, looking over her shoulder a moment to check that she had really lost that pack of Runners for maybe the hundredth time before stopping to duck behind a series of bins.

It smelled foul, but there wasn't much she could do when it was the safest place she could think of hiding to catch her breath and the darkness here helped cover her.

A quick look down at her digital watch and she sighed as she realised there was only about two minutes till the next day finally kicked in.

"Guess I won't be making that magazine deadline, huh" She muttered to herself, sounding resigned even to her own ears. Sniffling lightly, she reached into her back pocket to retrieve her phone, taking a moment to trace the large crack in the screen protector before unlocking it and scrolling through her contacts to find Nathan.

A minute passed before the operator informed her that the number she was trying to get to was unavailable, and she sighed deeply before writing a short message, hoping that it was just the battery or that he had left his phone at his workplace and was currently safe in the office at Jameson Marine Inc. at that she had nothing to worry about because she would find him there when she reached the port.

Still, it would take her days to get there on foot but getting a car was out of the question and even if she tried to _borrow_ one, it wasn't like she knew how to hotwire it to get it up and started.

As though to distract her from her current predicament, her stomach gave a churning growl to remind her that she hadn't ate since the morning before she left to deliver the drafts of her supposedly upcoming articles.

Sighing again, she decided to look around, using her smartphone's flashlight to see in the unlit alley.

Just behind one of the bins was what looked like a backdoor into a building, and she sniffled some more before trying her luck.

"Come on, come on!" She urged as she tried to shoulder the bin aside, grunting with the effort. Her feet hurt from running and she was practically shivering in her light blue cotton button-up and jeans which had soaked through with water. All she had on her was her small leather satchel which held her journaling notepad, some pens, a small bottle of water, some plasters and her wallet.

Well, not that any of it would do her any good but she would kill for some hot cocoa and a thick knitted sweater.

"Oh shit" She cursed as the bin finally gave way, but not without an incredibly loud screech of rusted tires. No doubt those Clickers would have picked it up some miles away, so she had to hurry and she gave a tug at the door, relief and anxiety both paying her a visit upon discovering it unlocked.

One last glance at the street and then she was indoors and out of the cold, the door securely closed behind her and she looked around.

This wasn't a supermarket or a restaurant or anything that she could scavenge for food, no, in fact it looked more like a…

"Bookstore" She realised, using her flashlight to inspect the surrounding area.

It looked clear, but then-

Elena's heart rate skyrocketed and she quickly clapped her hand over the light shining from her phone, ducking down and crawling under a desk the minute she heard the awful symphony of growling and terrible whining of the Infected.

Just what had she gotten herself into?

The door- she could go back out, right?

Elena felt like her heart would stop when a Runner came into the room dribbling and whimpering like a wounded or diseased dog and never had she felt more scared. Not even when she had seen those Guardian things in Shambala or when she had seen her life flash before her eyes in the moments where she had been severely injured.

Because unlike those times, those Guardians had nothing that could have been described as remotely human, and when she got injured, Nathan had been there to carry her out. Now? She was all alone and she realised that the sound from earlier would not have attracted the Infected from the outside, but she hadn't stopped to consider that those inside the building would have heard it also.

This whole thing was a mistake, and she could feel the sob begin to rise in her throat as tears stung at her eyes.

Elena was brave, she wasn't scared of a little pain or crazy manoeuvres with 4x4s, but this time she was alone and had a family that she wanted to see through all the madness.

Why couldn't everything just go back to the way it had been before?

The Runner turned, slowly and probably without the knowledge that she was there, but now it was facing the place where she had taken refuge and even the smallest peep or movement would alert it.

To say that she had felt sick to her stomach was an understatement. The Runner- the diseased person- was no more than a child. A girl of maybe twelve or thirteen years of age, dressed in a blood-stained school uniform with her hair done up in a half-mangled ponytail which she might have been proud of considering the cute pink clips she had pinning her fringe back.

Elena wanted to scream but the sound was trapped in her throat in the form of a lump that she didn't dare to swallow just from the cold fear that had settled in both her stomach and chest.

If anyone or anything could save her now, she would… she didn't know what she would do.

"Just please… make it go away" She breathed.

The creature screeched, its body convulsing as it stretched from its momentary dormancy and charged.

"Shut up" The words were spoken with a mildly irate tone, the sickening sound of something cutting into flesh filling the small back room and that was when the silence hit her.

It barely lasted though.

"Alright, I think we're all clear" Another voice spoke this time, sounding professionally detached.

"Good" The British one replied.

"You doing okay?" The first spoke, a heavily accented one which sounded closest to her and perhaps a little bit familiar.

"I'd like to see how you feel after breaking some ribs and nearly dislocating your leg under a ton of shelves" Tablot replied sarcastically.

"I've seen worse" Been through more than just shelves- like a 'golden El Dorado sarcophagus yanking you down to your near demise' type of worse. It was a wonder that Navarro was still alive, but the details were for another time. Luck had just been on his side that day.

Rafe rolled his eyes at their small banter, moving to inspect some of the boxes around the place without any particular intent. "If you two are done, maybe we can get out of here. I haven't eaten a thing in a while and if I can help it, I'd rather not die of starvation after almost getting eaten myself" He remarked in an uncaring tone.

That was perhaps the most unsettling thing about the short man.

Despite everything, the thing which stood out most was how he could appear so detached from everything even when he was wearing a smile, but for those who knew him, he also had a terrifyingly short fuse once you got past the cold.

These were people! Living, healthy and normal people!

Elena's relief could not be described at that moment, and she temporarily forgot about the queasy feeling that had yet to leave her stomach as she crawled out from her hiding place. "The streets aren't much better. All the supermarkets around here have been raided, believe me, I've checked" She spoke up.

Navarro, who had his back to her, visibly jumped since he hadn't seen her at all, but other than that, neither seemed to recognise the other. But then again, it had been eight years since they had last met and the circumstances had been very, very different indeed.

"What? Is she another one of your…?" Rafe gestured abstractly with his hand, probably looking for the least insulting word, but Talbot didn't wait for one anyway.

"No." He cut him off shortly. "Don't worry, we don't need to go out there. We came prepared." He seemed a little smug about that, though he didn't look in any condition to be when one looked at the way he was leaning against the wall and clutching his right side as though his organs might slip out if he didn't hold it so tightly.

A lesser man would have failed to look that composed, so it was almost admirable.

"We should set up camp, for now" Navarro shrugged off the sling backpack, pouring everything out haphazardly.

Some scavenged cans of leek and potato soup rolled out, one or two looking a bit battered which suggested they had been picked up in a hurry. Two bottles of mineral water, aspirin, a traveller's first aid kit, three and a half nutrient bars, a small journal with its strapped in pen, and a spare change of clothes. This second list seemed like a normal collection of items for a travelling person.

"Is there a vent around here?" Talbot asked.

"Why?" Rafe inquired.

"To start a fire, obviously" He sighed, knowing that Rafe was going to be a handful for more reasons than just his earlier jumpiness. Maybe he partially blamed Adler for the nearly fateful accident at the bottom of the stairs, but logic told him that the Clicker would have found them anyway.

He had figured it was echolocation just from watching those things move, and the fact it hadn't torn into Navarro when he was right in front of it- but that also made him realise that Navarro had noticed that trait. He had stood in front of it when it wasn't clicking because that awful sound was how it located things in its immediate vicinity. If they had been standing behind it while it clicked, the sound wouldn't have echoed off them and they would have been able to sneak by without much incident.

"There's one over here"

His musing was cut short by the sound of Elena calling from somewhere in the bookstore, and he pulled himself away from the wall to follow after Rafe who was heading towards her and Navarro.

The vent was just above the counter, a decent location which just needed a bit of rearrangement.

"Adler" Navarro called the shorter man, standing by a bookshelf and waiting on him.

"What do you want?" Rafe asked as he came over.

"We need to block the entrance" The other didn't seem very bothered by his huffiness, well, maybe he was, but it didn't really show. Navarro's expressions were quite mute, but the rare times that they showed through was merely to indicate his distaste at something which reflected in his dark eyes.

While they were busy with that, Elena pushed the smaller shelves aside to make some space on the floor. She would need something like a burner, a barrel or metal bucket for a fire.

"So… you guys know each other before all this?" She asked Talbot with a small, nervous smile.

"I wouldn't normally associate with people like these two. Desperate times and all that." Talbot replied, though she hoped he wasn't being rude as much as he was being honest.

"They seem alright" She remarked as she ducked behind the counter to see if she could find what she needed.

"I don't know about Adler, but Navarro is a brute" Talbot would have shrugged if his ribs didn't hurt so much.

Elena briefly paused, peeking her head from behind the counter to look at Marlowe's right-hand man. "I'm sorry?" Had she heard him correctly? Did he say 'Navarro'?

"Anyway, enough of that," Talbot didn't feel like repeating himself, moving to help her search and finally coming across an empty metal drum that would serve the purpose just fine, though he had to check that it didn't have any explosive liquids inside it prior. "Help me with this" He requested, and they managed to roll it into the required space.

The woman temporarily forgot about her concern when the soup was set to cook and listened to Talbot and Rafe argue about how this wasn't one bit healthy and that the cans would affect the taste and- who cared? It wasn't like they were at a world-class restaurant or anything. But, she supposed it was nice hearing a remotely normal conversation after the world had practically gone to hell.

"Here" Navarro interrupted her thoughts, holding something out to her.

Elena blinked as she slowly reached out to take it, unfolding the black garment. A long-sleeved wool shirt. Plain and simple. She opened her mouth to ask what she was meant to do with it, but he wasn't even looking at her.

"Figured you might need it, your clothes are…" It was his turn to make abstract hand gestures, and Elena took a moment to look down at herself.

She was a right mess, but putting aside the painfully obvious way her shirt clung to her body from the wet, she could in all honesty use a change of clothes and maybe even a new bra because this one was also soaked.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks." She muttered as she shuffled away awkwardly to find somewhere to change.

"Where exactly is this camp of yours?" She heard Rafe ask.

"A little more to the west, on a farm." Talbot replied.

"A farm? What about supplies?"

"Forests, the country side, camping grounds, farms- isolated places are better off than the immediate city. Me and Navarro go on runs to get supplies, or… well, that was the plan" He explained briefly.

It made sense. Places that were highly populated would be at the highest risk of quickly spreading the Cordyceps virus. That meant schools, shopping malls, and big company buildings would have already been swarmed.

"States up north and some along the west got an evacuation notice before all this. Alabama didn't." Navarro added.

"How many people are there?" Elena asked as she re-joined them, feeling a bit weird in the oversized shirt. It didn't feel anything like wearing Nathan's, but then again, why would it?

"What?" Talbot prompted clarification.

"At this camp, is it a Quarantine zone?" She rephrased, hoping that it would be a point to return to once she reached her home in New Orleans and found Nathan.

"No. Quarantine zones are being flooded right now, the military are taking drastic measures. Typical Americans." Navarro scoffed.

"Drastic measures?"

"They're shooting people. Aren't they?" Rafe had caught on. He knew how this whole thing worked. Politics prioritised government officials and those who were deemed important. The ones on the lower end of the food chain were just left to rot if there was 'no space'. They also seemed convinced that it would cut casualties by having a smaller and more manageable group.

"That's what it looks like" Talbot sighed as he carefully removed one of the cans from the fire and placed it aside to cool slightly.

"That's what it is" Navarro corrected.

Elena didn't know which was worse.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

So how far does human decency extend? Humans are not wholly evil, and even the people classified as 'villains' in a story can have some redeeming qualities. But don't worry, Navarro is not in the 'decent' category and no, he's not being nice to Elena any more than he is being polite with Rafe or Talbot.

Sorry about this chapter being _only_ about Elena, but I was really debating with myself which group I wanted her to join and I really wanted to write her in _without_ Nathan to explore her more as an individual character even if her concern would obviously be for her family (husband) most of the time.

Can't imagine Elena for being the survive-on-your-own type either so I thought it would be interesting to see her survive with the unlikely trio. Interestingly enough, even though Elena was there in all of the games bar Golden Abyss and Lost Legacy, she has never come face-to-face with neither Rafe nor Talbot and Marlowe. In fact, the only two villains she had direct confrontation with are Lazarevic and Navarro.

Thanks for Follows/Favourites/Reviews/etc.

I'd really like to know what you guys think!

WritingLevel-Meh


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